The present invention relates generally to computer systems, and more particularly to a system and method to facilitate configuration and tuning of a plurality of parameters within a notification system, wherein the parameters are employed to personalize notification capabilities of the notification system.
Advanced technology computer and communication systems have transformed many important aspects of human and computer interactions. This is apparent when considering how technology has forever changed electronic communications such as message transmission and retrieval. In the not too distant past, voice answering machines provided one particular way for a person to electronically capture a message and forward it to another. With technology advancements such as wireless and Internet systems however, electronic messaging systems have become much more sophisticated. These systems may include e-mail, voice mail, pager and cell phone technologies, for example, wherein almost an infinite supply of information may be sent and retrieved in a concurrent manner. Due to the content and volume of information available, and the ever increasing number of modalities for communicating such information, other systems have been developed to manage, direct and control message exchanges between parties and/or systems.
In some cases, methods from decision science and artificial intelligence, as well as other techniques has been employed to manage and direct electronic information transfers such as when and how to notify/alert a message recipient. As a general example, this may include considerations regarding the message recipient""s location, what type of device (e.g., cell phone, pager, e-mail) the recipient has access to and when a particular message is transmitted. These and other considerations can enable intelligent systems to prioritize a plurality of messages directed at a particular message recipient, direct messages to a particular location and/or communication modality associated with the recipient, as well as consider whether the value of information contained within a message exceeds the cost of disrupting the recipient presently or in the future. For example, one particular message recipient may desire to receive emergency messages immediately at any time of the day, important business messages during working hours, and not receive some messages at all such as xe2x80x9cSpamxe2x80x9d e-mail or other unwanted solicitations. As can be expected, desires of message recipients regarding message notification and priorities can differ greatly from one recipient to another.
In order to provide these and other notification capabilities, intelligent systems generally consider and operate upon a large number of decision-making variables concerning multiple aspects of the message recipient""s circumstances/desires when managing and directing message traffic to a particular recipient. These variables enable the intelligent system to determine and make decisions regarding a particular recipient""s notification desires and distinguish the notification requirements from one recipient to another. In other words, each recipient has different priorities, desires and needs that influence decision-making processes and notifications flowing from the intelligent system. Consequently, in order to satisfy a variety of notification requirements applying to a plurality of different circumstances and recipients, many decision-making variables are provided to tailor notification requirements according to a particular user""s needs.
Often, along with the large number of variables that influence these systems, there is a complex and/or competing relationship between the decision-making variables, however. For example, one variable or combination of variables may subtly or overtly influence decisions relating to other variables or combinations thereof. Since the number of variables involved in the decision-making process can be extensive and/or interrelated, it may be challenging for a user to personalize the decision-making process to meet specific requirements relating to that user""s circumstances and desires. Thus, there is a need for a system and/or methodology to facilitate personalization and refinement capabilities of a notification system.
The following presents a simplified summary of the invention in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not an extensive overview of the invention. It is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of the invention nor delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.
The present invention relates to a system and method to facilitate refining and personalizing communication policies in a notification system. The notification system operates on a plurality of user profile variables that define the context or current state, of a user. Depending on the context, a user is notified of impending communications defined by the context and one or more policies within the notification system to control the urgency, cost of notification, and/or importance of sending the communication (e.g., e-mail, pager) to the user, for example. Decision-making policies employed within the notification system generally need to be refined and personalized according to a set of nominal settings that may be initially defined by users and/or system designers. Such personalization capabilities enhance the value of these systems. The present invention enables users to easily manipulate, control, and thereby personalize the decision-making policies of the notification system.
In accordance with one particular aspect of the present invention, an efficient and ergonomic system is provided to enable the user to rapidly adjust parameter thresholds for initially setting user profile variables. Default settings may be provided to facilitate the initial settings and/or one or more personality profiles may be provided and selected by the user to enable the user to utilize predetermined settings consistent with a particular type of user (e.g., busy office worker, traveling worker, home worker). Alternatively, surveys may be provided to the user to determine the initial settings. As the user becomes accustomed to the amount and/or frequency of notifications, a tuning system is provided to modify and adjust particular contexts and/or subsets of the user profile variables to facilitate personalization and refinement of the notification system.
One or more context profiles that specify a particular set of user profile variables may, be defined that are associated with a general tuning parameter (e.g., boost value), wherein the tuning value is employed to adjust or xe2x80x9ctunexe2x80x9d existing notification settings whether more or less notifications associated with the one or more context profiles are generated by the notification system. As will be described in more detail below, tuning values from one or more context profiles may be combined via a transformation to provide a singular xe2x80x9cboostxe2x80x9d or adjustment that controls the urgency, cost, and importance of notifications from the notification system to the user. In this manner, user""s can easily adjust or personalize a system in a relative manner without having to understand complex or competing interrelationships between profiles to satisfy specific/personalized notification requirements. A user interface is provided to facilitate defining and adjusting the user profile variables and the context profiles. The interface can provide feedback indicating the effects (e.g., number of messages delivered in a time period based on previous history) of the user settings on the notification system and thus, how the settings may ultimately impact the user.
The following description and the annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative aspects of the invention. These aspects are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the invention may be employed and the present invention is intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents. Other advantages and novel features of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the drawings.